The Death Knell

"Hi Howard, Merry Christmas."

Seeing Howard's behavior like a vicious dog pouncing on food, Steve picked up a piece of ham in front of him with a strange expression. He put the plate in front of Howard because he felt that if he didn't feed Howard quickly, he might have to eat it. starving.

"Well, uh, why are you here too?"

Howard didn't know why he had to eat steamed buns on Christmas, but the steamed buns were really delicious. After his brain blood sugar returned to normal levels, he saw Steve sitting at the dining table, wearing a festive red sweater.

"Today is Christmas Eve, and I don't have any other relatives, so it's normal here." Steve answered very calmly. He stood up and poured Howard a glass of water and patted Howard on the back.

Howard tilted his head and sniffed hard: "Where's Paige, isn't she here?"

Steve shook his head, returned to his seat, and stabbed a piece of meat with a fork: "Now you know more than me. You are the chief scientist of the logistics department, and I am a cartoonist. You should tell me. Where has she gone?"

The food on the table was delicious and delicious, and the lights in the room were very warm, but Steve felt like he had failed like never before.

Howard didn't seem to notice this. He was still stuffing things into his mouth like a starving man: "I have something to do at home and I have been on leave for several weeks. Why don't you ask Fury about it?"

"No need, Paige is my girlfriend, I actually have to find out her whereabouts from others? Forget it." Steve forced a forced smile. Of course he knew that the seemingly calm logistics department was actually undercurrent. Surging, and completely understand Peggy's determination to maintain world peace.

But this is never a matter of one person, let alone Peggy, even he himself can't do it.

He has been thinking about who secretly injected Paige with the anti-aging serum, whether the other party had expected such a result, and what purpose he had.

I can't figure it out, I can't figure it out at all, I don't even have any clues.

Su Ming, who was standing under the faint shadow of the chandelier, clapped his hands, put down his knife and fork, picked up the wine glass, and interrupted the troubled conversation: "Today is a holiday, don't talk about those things, come, let's raise a glass to everyone's happy gathering."

Gin was always the quickest to respond to a toast proposal. Almost as soon as she finished speaking, her wine glass appeared in her hand and she enthusiastically helped greet the guests.

"Come and have a toast! You are not allowed to leave until you are drunk today. Xiao Wang, go get ten more barrels of ale."

Wang sighed. He had just put down the roasted suckling pig: "Ten barrels? That's too much..."

"We have Captain America. These drinks are not enough. Go quickly." Gin winked at Xiao Wang. Howard obviously came to discuss something with Deathstroke, so she had to hold Steve back to prevent him from hearing anything. You shouldn't hear it.

The king bowed slightly and left. He had to use magic where no one could see him.

Mysterio was holding a chicken leg in one hand and a wine glass in the other, waiting to toast. She, Steve and Howard had never met each other before, and she didn't want to explain her identity, so it was better to remain silent.

Steve smiled reluctantly. Even though he was not drunk with ten barrels of ale, his stomach was still bloated, but he knew that Gin was the mistress of this family now, so he could only obey.

"cheers."

.....................

While Gin was pouring wine for Steve, Su Ming left Xiao Wang to take care of the dining table, while he took Howard, who was wiping his mouth, to the study and threw him a cigar.

"Tell me, what's going on? Did you go to a famine-stricken place in Africa?"

Howard closed the study door with his backhand. He sighed and put away his fake smile: "If someone in Africa can save my child, then I will definitely go. Maria gave birth to a son for me a few days ago. I gave him He was named Arnold Stark.”

"Shouldn't this be a good thing?" Su Ming cut off one end of the cigar and lit it with a lighter on the desk.

"Here's the problem. Although the recorder's potion was cracked by me, he still left a backup plan. Although Arnold's lifespan was not a problem after he was born, his genes were very unstable, causing his body to be extremely weak. I asked Huo Levi took a look at it, but he said that Arnold might not be able to stand up from the bed in his life, and would need to use a machine to maintain it... Slade, what should I do? Maria is crying every day, Not eating at all, it breaks my heart.”

Howard held the cigar in his hand and sat down on the sofa nearby.

"So you're not going to eat with her?" Su Ming was also convinced by the scientist's brain circuit. Hunger cannot be shared.

"That's just one aspect. I've been busy looking for acquaintances these days to see if there is any way to treat the child." Howard rubbed his face, his eyes filled with bloodshot eyes: "Unfortunately, after seeing the cases, these people said they were unable to do anything. .”

"In that case, what's the use of you looking for me? I'm a soldier, not a scientist." Su Ming spread his hands.

The Time Stone can't help Howard, because his son will not survive anyway.

As a scientist, Howard has been exposed to primitive vibranium, Tesseract energy, nuclear weapons, new elements, and various sources of radiation. He has seen alien species of gods, and also lived on alien planets with Nathaniel and Tesla. These past events have done too much harm to him as an ordinary person.

From a superstitious point of view, it can be said that the nuclear bomb will harm Tianhe, but from a scientific point of view, his own genes have mutated under the radiation, and his children are destined to be unhealthy.

Without the participation of the recorder, the child would be stillborn; with the participation of the recorder, the child would live for thirty years; if Howard modified the potion, the child would be bedridden.

There are only a few possibilities on the timeline.

Unless Su Ming goes back to the time when Howard was born and breaks his hands and feet so that he will never be exposed to things that cause his genetic mutation for the rest of his life.

But is that kind of Howard still Howard?

The impact on the world is too great to do that.

However, Howard obviously didn't know about Deathstroke's ability to manipulate time, and that's not what he was thinking about.

He said very sincerely: "I know that Dr. Erskine is hidden by you. Can you let me see him? As a scholar who developed the SSS serum, he may have a way."

"The origin of the super soldier serum is different from what you think..." Su Ming shook his head.

"Please, Slade, save the child." Howard grabbed Su Ming's hand, as if intending to use it to wipe his nose: "I won't tell anyone where Erskine is, just let me see him. Him."

"Hey! Okay, okay, but I'm afraid things won't change."

He quickly withdrew his hand. Howard's mustache was covered in mucus and he was so disgusted.

"I know, I know, it's just a try. It's still hope." Howard took out a handkerchief to wipe his nose, pretending to be fine, and followed Su Ming's departure.

The two of them used the excuse of going out to help Howard pick out a Christmas gift for Maria, and then found Xiao Wang who was carrying wine barrels in an empty room outside the corridor, and came to Hawaii through the portal.

It was still dusk in Hawaii, and Dr. Erskine, who had worked hard all day, was sleeping on a recliner, holding his hoe and covering his face with a straw hat.

"Was that magic just now? God, what is the principle of it? How does energy flow? How do we move such a long distance in an instant?" Howard looked like his three views were destroyed, and looked back three times to see the shrinking behind him. The teleportation aperture, and kept asking about the principle of magic.

Su Ming curled his lips. This must be the occupational disease of scientists: "Focus, Howard, focus on your son's affairs."

"Uh, right...wait, is this Dr. Erskine? He looks..."

Howard got out of the brainstorm after receiving the reminder. He looked at the 'farmer' sleeping on the lounge chair in front of the cabin with some disbelief.

In his impression, although Dr. Erskine was not a high-spirited scientific madman, he was definitely not what he was now. The farmers in Texas were all more elegant than him.

The sound of the two talking woke up Erskine. He was an old man back then. After being injected with leech medicine, his appearance did not become younger, he still looked the same.

But now he lives a fulfilling life and has rediscovered himself in simple farming. The look he looks at Howard is full of wisdom honed over time, as if he were some great sage.

Erskine has a boyish face, fair hair, and muscles all over his body. He has the leanness of a farmer. Some people would believe him if they said he was a weakened version of Captain America.

"Isn't this Howard? We haven't seen each other for decades, and you are getting old."

Erskine smiled and asked Howard to sit down, and they all chatted on the beach under the sunset.

It is not a lie to say that Howard is old. Although he has taken good care of himself as a rich man, his hair is still slightly gray, and the round-faced mustache of the past has become the old man he is today.

Howard was filled with emotion after hearing this. The last time he and Dr. Erskine met was when Captain America was born. When he saw that familiar face, everything in the past seemed to appear before his eyes.

He walked up to Erskine and held his hand: "Doctor, long time no see."

Su Ming didn't bother the two scientists reminiscing. He simply went to the field to pick a pineapple and slowly peeled it and ate it himself.

"Doctor, you have been captured by Deathstroke for so long, haven't you ever thought about escaping?" Howard did not avoid Su Ming, and after a few words of greeting, he asked Erskine.

Erskine smiled indifferently, as if he was transcending the world: "I thought about it at first, but then I understood that the death knell, Mr. Wilson, actually saved me and put me out of the sea of ​​suffering. Otherwise, do you think I Where will he be now? Being imprisoned by the SSR for experiments, and being snatched away like an object by all parties? Or died in an assassination, living in a dark coffin underground?"

Howard sighed and slowly moved his neck: "It seems that you have also read the news. Now there are fake Captain Americas everywhere in the United States. The thing we are most worried about has appeared."

"Yes, there are not many second-generation super soldiers now, but once they develop, the United States will naturally embark on the path of hegemony and become the Nazi country I once fled..."

Erskine shook his head with emotion. Even if Fury came to save him now, he would never leave.

It's impossible for him to get the super soldier serum again. He can only make a living by growing pineapples. There is food and accommodation here. The people on the island all talk nicely. He likes it here very much.

Away from the right and wrong of the outside world, in the words of those Chinese, these are the days of gods, and only fools jump back into the fire pit to study weapons.

"I'm also yearning for this place. Slade, do you still have your anti-aging serum?"

Howard looked at the golden sea under the setting sun. The sea breeze rolled up his hair and brushed his face. He felt an unprecedented calmness.

Originally, he did not want to extend his life through external force. What he wanted was a wonderful and gorgeous life, and the length of his life was not among his considerations.

But now he couldn't rest assured about his son's affairs. He felt that he couldn't die so gracefully. He also wanted to see his child grow up healthily.

Su Ming used the God Killer to poke a piece of pineapple into his mouth: "Yes, but the leech potion is the same as the unlimited prescription. It requires regular injections of a maintenance dose. And even if we can live forever, we old immortals can't always exist in the public before."

"Of course I understand that the current human society cannot afford the universalization of long lifespan, and the level of productivity is not enough. If everyone cannot die, the problem of jobs will cause social collapse."

Howard touched his mustache. He was a little embarrassed. After all, he had changed his mind.

But people change. The birth of his son made him worried, and he didn't want to die just like that.

"Then I'll get you medicine and let Dr. Erskine give you the injection." Su Ming patted his butt and walked to the depths of the island's jungle with the pineapple: "In a few years, when the child is older, you and Mary Ya can arrange to fake death and escape, and come and plant pineapples with Erskine."

Howard really thought about it and shouted at the departing figure: "I'm a physicist, can I plant bananas?"

Deathstroke didn't seem to hear him at all and disappeared from sight.

"By the way, I'll give you a taste of the pineapple I grew. It's so sweet."

Erskine patted Howard on the shoulder and showed a satisfied smile like a farmer. He had used his knowledge where it should be used, and now he could openly let others witness his achievements, which was completely different from before.

Today, Howard also realizes the problem. There is nothing wrong with technology itself, but the current governments simply do not use them in the right direction.

No one thinks about benefiting mankind. They are all thinking about hegemony and trying to conquer the world through technology. Countless people will be caught in the flames of war, and countless lives will be lost. Technology is not used for this purpose.

Over the years, Deathstroke would always tell Erskine about the universe when he came here to pick pineapples. This made him understand that only by uniting as a whole can mankind gain a firm foothold among the stars with billions of races.

Once the era of the big universe comes, aliens will only call the hairless primates on the earth human beings, and will not distinguish between Yankees or Germans. Then the current cannibalism will only weaken the human race as a whole. the power of.

Because the moon landing event proved to the universe that the earth has entered the space age and is ready to participate in a cruel game.

"No, Dr. Erskine, I am here to ask for your help. As an authority in biology, can you help check my son's genetic status?"

Seeing that Erskine was going to pick pineapples, Howard quickly grabbed him and took out a crumpled stack of paper from his coat. This was a very authoritative inspection report.

He handed all the thick papers to Erskine, and looked forward eagerly like an abandoned puppy.